Tell people you live in Berwyn and the reaction is invariable, tiresome and utterly predictable. They affect a clichéd 'Sowt' Side' accent and make a crack about Svengoolie, that 1970s cable personality known for mixing schlock horror movies with hackneyed jokes about 'Boiwen.' The subtext is as clear as it is annoying: Berwyn is schlub city, a berg of quasi-literate palookas who don't know Oscar Wilde from Oscar Meyer. If I've learned anything in the five years since I moved to this town, it's that the legacy of Svengoolie springs eternal.
Mention there's an Equity theater opening in Berwyn and folks do everything but pat you on the head and kindly opine that surely you must mean Oak Park. Sigh.
Berwyn Arts Council Director John Fey was born in Berwyn and, as a native, is used dealing with preconceptions about the town sandwiched between Oak Park, North Riverside and Cicero. But with the opening of Berwyn's 16th Street Theater, a 49-seat Equity house less than 10 miles from the Loop, Fey and other Berwyn community leaders find themselves dealing with both the excitement of a newly burgeoning arts community as well as with the notions of those who think of Berwyn ( when they do think of Berwyn ) , as a punchline.
You want to do what?'
'When I first started doing events here, I'd get that 'and this is going to be where?!' look a lot,' said Fey. 'Berwyn's reputation is cemented in a lot of people's minds. As a community, though, it's changing. It's a bit different from the perception that's out there. Its reputation is lagging behind what it's actually like.'
That lag could diminish significantly in the coming months, as Berwyn resident Ann Filmer launches the first season of the 16th Street Theater, which opens this week with a remounting of Teatro Luna's acclaimed Machos. Completed in May, the 6420 W. 16th St. theater will also feature Will Dunne's The Ascension of Carlotta, Arlene Malinowski's Aiming for Sainthood and Tonya Saracho's Kita y Fernanda in its inaugural season.
Creating a state-of-the-art black box theater from a decrepit, vacant building started as something of a one-man crusade by North Berwyn Park District Director Joseph Vallez. Like Fey, Vallez is familiar with the sort of knee-jerk naysaying elicited by the city.
'I can't tell you how many people just kind of stared at me and said 'You want to do what?!' when I proposed a theater here,' Vallez said. 'The building was run down—folks were looking to tear it down because there were so many code violations. So we just went ahead, and kept our plans kind of quiet.'
Ice-storm SRO
The quiet came to an abrupt end Dec. 1 when—despite a massive ice storm—an SRO crowd turned out for a kick-off event at the newly christened 16th Street Theater. Chicago Dramatist Artistic Director Russ Tutturow and Goodman Theatre Executive Director Roche Schulfer provided mini-keynote addresses. Actors offered sneak preview scenes from upcoming productions. Between performances, an unlikely mix of old-school Cook County and Berwyn politicos rubbed elbows with theater folk and civic leaders from community groups, including the Berwyn United Gay and Lesbian Organization ( BUNGALO ) .
For Filmer, the night was a triumph, but not an altogether unexpected one. 'My husband and I used to joke that when we moved to Berwyn, we'd start our own arts scene there,' she said of the move she made in April with her spouse, composer and percussionist Barry Bennett. 'Then when we got here, we realized there already was an arts scene,' she said.
A great match
Indeed, Berwyn's arts scene is a definite, if nascent, presence. Three years ago, Fey sent out feelers in the form of a questionnaire. He wanted, he said, to determine whether Berwyn Arts Council was even a feasible idea. Roughly 400 people indicated an interest, and the organization was born. Since then, over 1,000 people have contacted the Council ( www.berwynartsconcil.org ) , expressing an interest in the group and in nurturing the arts in Berwyn. The latest addition to the Council's board of directors? Ann Filmer.
It was Fey who steered Filmer to Vallez, but it was Filmer's credentials that got Vallez's attention. In addition to extensive directing, choreography and producing credits in Chicago, Filmer worked as producing director of Chicago Dramatists for four years and associate artistic director at Writers' Theatre for three years. A Michael Maggio Fellow at the Goodman, she also founded the Aardvark Theatre and the biannual Estrogen Fest. But beyond the resume was a passion that was palpable, Vallez said.
'When Ann came in and started talking about some of the things she had done, I knew right away this was a great match,' Vallez said.
Never mind your nephew
Perhaps because the theater falls under the auspices ( and gets much of its funding from ) the North Berwyn Park District, Filmer has spent some time explaining—to both elected officials and Berwyn residents—that 16th Street is not a community theater or in the business of staging shows that grow out of park district programs.
'I've met a few people who say, 'I hear you're starting a theater; let me tell you about my 8-year-old nephew. He's got so much energy and he's so cute.' And I'm like, 'No, this isn't a theater for children, or a community theater. It's a professional theater for the community,' ' Filmer said.
'Yes, there are people in town who don't understand the difference between an Equity theater where the actors and the technicians are paid professionals, and community theater where you can go see your neighbor doing the lead in Oliver!, ' Vallez added. 'But I think once people start coming out and seeing the performances, they'll realize what we're doing here.'
City of contrasts
Nobody is claiming Berwyn is without challenges. The town doesn't have the tax base of Glencoe, Oak Park or even Forest Park, which help support Writers' Theatre, the Oak Park Festival Theatre and Circle Theatre, respectively. Berwyn's average household income is moderate—just over $50,000 according to the latest figures from the Berwyn Development Corporation. And the community is, if not unstable, certainly in a state of history-related flux. 'Change' and 'transition' are watchwords in Berwyn: During the last municipal election in 2005, voters threw out the long-entrenched mayor and almost every single incumbent member of the city council. Neighborhood demographics are undergoing more gradual alterations, as families of Hispanic descent move into communities historically populated by people of Czech and Eastern European decent.
Berwyn is also, at least for now, a city of contrasts: On the one hand, upscale condos priced at $400,000 are under construction in the heart of Berwyn's downtown. A two-bedroom bungalow that ran $190,000 in 2000 is now valued at $250,000. At the same time, Berwyn's high school district —J. Sterling Morton High School District 201—has failed three times running to get a tax hike passed and Morton students ( many in overcrowded classrooms ) are among those in the state scoring lowest on standardized tests.
All that notwithstanding, the 16th Street Theater gives Berwyn's arts community—and the community as a whole—another reason to celebrate the oft-maligned suburb.
'I'm sure there's many challenges that have yet to appear,' said Filmer. 'But honestly—and I don't want to sound like I'm trumpeting—what I've seen so far is a lot of excitement.'
For more information about the 16th Street theater, log onto www.16thstreettheater.org, call 708-795-6704, ext. 105, or e-mail info@16thstreettheater.org .
